February 5, 1976 I * PEACE 8, FREEDOIIT THRU ¡,IONVIOLENT ACTION '' \. ' :4' CAN THE GANDHIAN MOVFMENT IN INDIACHANGE THE GO VERNMENT? -(, -i, .-* i{j ir/ tr ili. :.; ;-i! f rij',, I ,t t', i}'.r ,:.'íÌ i,i.: i i* V=t rr i:.' ;-. ,a /,":i'f,.r; t ? Ti)¡'riiiì i,r-: Ì: Dq6ÉEO ,lT-irl" I More on Amer¡can Corporations in Liberia; Bicycling to a New Society; Living Gay Love in America ì, t d / 30d enthusiasm for a popular cause." Hitler's moves into Austria and Czechoslo- Wendy Schwaftz [WIN, 1/15/76] describes her meeting with a man "who had no politics." She says, vakia before World War II were also quite popular with the Gefman people. Now we must go back to analyze the reasons for their popularity. .nt _MICHAELBERKOWITZ ,nJ Menlo Park, Callf. I'm puzzled about why you published that long letter from Tip Hillian [WIN, 1/15/76], describing the leisure In her attempt to be fair minded, Susan Mercer has been too kind to the perpetrators of "The Green March in the Sahara" lWlN, I / 22 / 7 trips of 61, Fronted by thousands ofunarmed civilians, backed by 18,0ü) battle-ready troops, King Hassan, Morocco's conservative, anti-socialist monarch, sought to aggtandizethe Spanish Sahara. This act of imperialism seems to have been a unilateral move designed to thwart self-determination for the people ofthe Sahara. Hassan has been increasingly uneasy about the Polisario, the Sahara's nationalist independence movement. Fearing that the Polisario would win a popular referendum suggested by the UN, Morocco has increased its efforts to seize the Sahara. This'is why the march was called by Hassan and known internationally as "The March of Conquest." Perhaps it was later dubbed "The Green March" because Hassan hoped to gain control of Spanish Sahara's 1.7 billion tons ofphosphates, the essential ingredient in chemical { 1ù fertilizers. The march also seems to have been designed to redirect the consciousness of Moroccans away from their own domestic woes. Territotial aggrandizement has been a classic strategy of ruling elites in countries expedencing internal problems. Morocco has an illiteracy rate of 807o, per capita income of $170, low life expectancy (47 years) and high infant mortality (149 per 1000). Unlike its more fortunate neighbots, Morocco lacks the oil resources to help increase the quality oflife. Perhaps Metcer, or other \{IN readers, could explore some ofthese problems in greater depth. This would be of more use in understanding the march than characterizing what hap- . pened-the rapes, murders, starvation, tobbery, fraud, swindling, enslavement and attempted conquest-as "small quibblings in an overall picture of mass a male-headed bourgeois nuclear family and thinking it relates somehow to the earlier article on single parenthood. Both the Hillian letter and the earlier Thorndike article were grossly disappointing to me since I thought they might deal with sexism, but neither showed the least awareness of socialism or feminism. The boring ramblings of bourgeois men seem very out of place inamagazine like WIN, which-I thought was about revolution. So I was glad to read the article by Gary Mitchell Wandachild [WIN, l/22/761 on patriarchy. However, I have one serious complaint about it. (I assume Gary Mitchell Wandachild is a man, although the article didn't make that clear.) When men talk to each other, they (we) most often are overly 'lfls 5psks soME GOOD NEWS, to me about his life, the corporation he works for, how he got a draft deferment. I was bored." She proceeds to a discussion of out failute to "reach" people like this man and "the question oÍ how to present our politics to the uncommitted," She winds up saying, "As we make our way throughout neighborhoods on the Continental Walk, and as we meet and talk with people all through out lives, I hope we will have the humilitv to soeak to their needs first, to prq'sent ideas that will enlighten them inõteåd of aggrandizing us. " Along the way shèiaises several interestins oueltions. but the one that fascinatËs^me most'is: How do you find out wh¿t a person's needs ate, much less speak to those needs, ifyou get theirlivei? - marine was $10,571.75 short of its goal. wtrãt this meãns is that the proiection that we made earl.y tasì¡ v¿ãr ias unduly pessimis¿ic. instead of $50,000 the submarínes eoal should have been 947,126.n. As you can see þeiòw, its cõurse has been adlusted accord¡ngly .. The gap between our exÈectations and our actual financial positioñ ii the result of a cómbination of two factors:.the senerous resDonse of our readers and sëvere cutbacks on exõãni"t- lt is unlikely that WIN'q find.of "reader-supported iournatism" can ever become ful[¡ self'st¡pporting' But the Lood news is that our deficit on December 31 was almost two dotlars less than th at otÍ a year earlier ãhousand - fñis means that we have real momentum go¡ng. Let's keep it . -rylN up. Onty $6,545.65 to ,. ' go! W. SROGES -AICHARD New Orleansr Ia. ,r" EXPENSES INCOME Subscriptions: Reneival New Lifetime Advertising The statement by the Fifth Estate, conintellectual, and keep tryingto show cerning responsibility for the death of Richard Welch [\ryIN, 1/15/76], is only themselves off as cool and more together than the next man. My own partially correct, in my opinion. I agree that the Fifth Estate, merely struggle is to try to brçak out ofthat by identifying in its journal, Cou¡ter. conditioning, be more nurturing and personal, and less coldly intellectual spy, Richard Welch as a CIA operative, is not responsible for his death. The and competitive. Gary's àrticle is packed full of male ways of exprestruth does not kill; only people murder each other. But the statement that. "if sion-totally "cool" with not the slightest hint ofvulnerability or peranyone is to blame for Mr. \[elch's t sonal feelings. He exptesses no desire death, it is thc CIA that sent him to to coopetate with other men-just a Greece to spy and intervene in the aflong stream of insults at other men for fairs ofthe Greek people and to rendezbeing stupid and sexist. vous with a death symbolic of the horIf Gary Wandachild were really inrible essence of the ÇIA" needs qualiterested in ''feminizing" himself, I wish fication. It is true thát the CIA, böcause he would describe how he, personally, of its provocative use of violence, must has struggled in his own life and share in the responsibility for the killing whether or not he has learned to stop of Richard \{elch. On the basis of this competing and claiming to be the reasoning, Welch himself must shpre in one-and-only male "authority" on a the responsibility for his death. But given subject. I myself have still not those who did the killing must also gotten very far with this, in the years I share in the responsibility. To suggest have been trying to overcome my own otherwise is sophistical. The best that sexism. What we as men need to learn can be said for them is that they chose is how to cooperate and be tender, and an immoral means (murder) to achieve a noble end (ridding Greece of the CIA). to stop b eins compett,t""jî-$Ëi"ft Holyoke, Mass. LAST! Here is WIN's balance sheet for the yedr 1975. As of the end of iËãu"ãt the debt stood at $7,698'15.'At the same time the sub- : bored when he tells you about his life? Is it that people'sneeds are unrelated to Al $ 25,352.34 12,245.18 '1,370.00 3,665.18 Sales: 2'835.03 Sinele Copv & Bulk Boõks, Poïiers, Reprints 1,289.23 Subsidy Contributions' Special Grants* Bènefits* Misc. \üRL 8,i00.00 TOTAL 94,982.61 * Counts towards annual fundraising campaign. g 34,M6.21 Printing 2,008.ó3 3,755,10' Layout Typesetting Editorial Mailing Service 162.27 10,705.50 Postage: 5,639.93 Second Class Other Offtce Maintenance t $5,000 $20,000 Society / Louie Crew 16. Heads and Tales; Our Friends the Vegetables / Bob Pinkus 17. Changes 20. Reviews Cover: Drawing of Indira Candhi and political prisoners by Peg Averill/LNS. 3,095.83 4,060.00 STAFF 4,0E6.23 Dwisht Ernest Mary Mayo Sus¡n Pines FreðRosen MurrayRosenblith 67.00 " s"l"ri", 25,634.29 4,263;94 Promotiog Renewal Fund Raising 1,t71.47 1,282.87 TOTAL 102,ffi.76 Maris Cakars Susan Cakars UN¡ND¡CTED CO.CONSPIRATORS lan Earry Lance Belville Tom Brucker íãrrv ôoít¡n; fynne shatzk¡n coffin' Ânn'Oãu¡¿on DianaDavies RuthDear Ralph DiCia' Brian Doherty William Douthard' Kaien Durbin' Chuck Fager Seth Foldy .'-' ' ' ' :, Hendrik Hertzberg' Karla Jay Marty Jezer' Beckv lohnsoñ Nancv Johnsón Paul .lohnson Alisonkarpel Craig Karpel John Kyper Eil¡ot L¡nztir* Jaik¡on Mac Low David McReynolds' i David Morris Mark Morris' J im Peck Tad Richards j lgal Roodedko* Nancy Rosen Ed Sanders Ùúendv Schwartz* Martha Thomases Art Waskow '-' Äù;Vã;;;-ti;'erty woò¿ward _JIMMISSEY Stevens Polnt, VÍls. 'Member of WIN Editorial Board $25,ooo WIN is oublished weekly except for the first two weeks in Januäry, the last week in March, the first week in Juñe, the lâst two weeks in August, and the first two weeks ¡n September by W.l.N. Magazine lnc. with the suooort of the War Resisters League. Subscriptions are Sli.O0 oer vear. Second class postage paid at New York, NV 1fu1. lndividual writers are responsible for oDin¡ons exDressed and accuracy of facts 8iven. Sorrymanuscriots cannot be returned unless accompanied by a selÊadcjressed stamped 2 . ' Jim Forest LarryCara Joan Libby Hawk Neil Haworth EdHedemann CraceHedemann v7,126.N $15,ü)o 4. Can the Gandhian Movement * Meet the Challenge of Fascism in lndia / Dattid Morris 10. A Personal View of lndia's Crisis Kumar Mehta 11. Liberia Turns a Prof¡t for ManY American ComPanies Roger Walke . , 13'. Beating the System bY Bicycle / Ed ArszmaP 14. Hiding WÌthin Straight 3,701.49 s40,580.75 $10,fi)o / Vol. Xll No.4 , 28,442.11 Rent 10,000.9q Telephone 744.37 - Resale Items 638.41 February 5,1976 envelope. Pr¡nted in USA wtN WIN I 3 .t .¡, Can the o I Museum oJ Art 1sth century lnd¡an tapestry from ìhe Metropol¡tan Mêet the Challange of Ihscism in India? q BY.DAVID MOBR,trS According to all reports from lndia, lntlira Candhi and her supporters have succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations in setting up a structuré of fascism. This poses the most serious challenge to lndian Candhianism since the death of Mahatmaji Candhi. How welì has the lndian Candhian movement met the challenge and what is likely to.be the future of the nonviolent movement in lndia? To answer these questions it's important to understand the underlying causes of the recently declared ".state of Emergency" and the responses of different sectors of lndian society. 1976 will mark the tenth year that lndira Candhi has been lndia's Prime Minister. During thosê years, there häs been ongoing political struggle inside and outside of the ruling Congress Party which has centered around three political issues: central ization vs,. decentral ization, 'industrialization vs. an agrarian society and parliamentary democracy vs'. revolution. There are other important secondary considerations like political opportunism, the effects of caste, the flexibility of the tndian joint family, and the ancient tiaditions of .manipulation and political maneuver, but these three issues are the dominant themes. These themes can also be foqnd in the American experience. The debate over the.United States Constitution and the later: Federalist/Anti-Feijeralist quarrels were quarrels over the degree of centralized power that the new United States government should possess. One aspect of th'e Civil War (or.Second Américan Revolution) was the quarrel between industrial capital, mostly located in the north and landlord capital; mostly . David Morris regutlarly covers tndia Íor WIN ' based in the South. The conf lict between the capitalist development of the United States and revolutionary alternatives can be traced from Robert Owen forward. As the editorial writer for the Hindustan Ïimes told me in New Delhi last August, lndira Candhi is the representative of those groups in lndian society that support the growing industrialization of lndía and therefore also.support the greatgr ã"niruäzãt¡on òt po*ur uv trrd índian stãte. fhese groups include the large private industrialists like thè lata and Birla families, the small and medium entrepreneirrs who operate "modern,l' mechanized factories, the managers and planners of the state-owned industries, trade union leaders who see the fúrther industrialization of lndia as increasing the strength of the laboiu movement and the members and leaders of the Communist Party of lndia (pro-Moscow). Along with some groups of farmers who have developed American agribusiness techniques and the military, these groups rule the lndian state, dominate its economy and, through the iivil servicé, are trying as hard as they can to "modernize" lndia. There are powerful groups opposed to this centralization and emphasis on industrialization: most landlords, the network of small and large moneylenders that extend to every village in ln:dia, the'large and diverse community of , Candhians, radical intellectuals committed to revolutionary forms of socialism (as well as radical intellectuals who are out of power and therefore rebellious), professionals used to Western forms of political activity (especially l4wyers and doctors), members of the various Maoist-oriented revolutionary groups, as well as the Brahmins, priests and artists committed to maintaining the traditional forms of lndian society. There is a third sector which is uncommitted to either vision of what lndia should be, partly be,cause neither side has won their allegiance; These are the rank-and-f ile of organized industrial labor, the millions of workers in unorganized, often . primitive factories that produce solely forthe domestic market, and the vast numbers of rural landless workers, some of whom àre "f¡ee" and otbers of whom work under semi-feudal conditions for the large rural landlords. This sector is the sector that holds the key to lndia's futi.lre, since its t support is vital to all, revolùtiona¡ies and reactionaries alike. There is a fourth sector of small shopkeeper"s, lower level professionals like teachers, nqrses þhd civil servants; small urban landlords and the educated unempÍoyed, who are capable of creating urban disturbances but who lack a commanding * position in lndian society. The conflict between those committed to centralization and industrialization and those opposed came to a head when J .P. Narayan led a portion of the Candþian movement into open confrontation with lndirä Candhi and her supporters. Before the "J P Movement,"'the opposition to Indira Candhi andher supporters had been in the hands of Moraji Desai, one-time Deputy Prime Minister, and representative of the entren'ched landlord and moneylender groups. Hovt4ever) their "Crand Alliance" of Hindu nationalist groups and landlqrd/moneylender/rich peasant parties were unable to capture much support, since these groups were älso the oppressors of the fhird sector of industrial and agrarian workers. Their version of "decentralization" was a return to the "good old days" when the rural elite of landlords, moneylenders, rich peasants and priests ruled the countryside J.P. Narayan and the "left sarvodayas," surfacing in Bihar in1974, began working for broad socia[ and political change. Since the Candhian heritage of the struggle for independence gave . them the legitimacy that the revolutionary Naxalite groups were denied through repression, they quicklv attracted thepupport of the fourth group of urban "small bourgeoisie." This group ' was suffering from the horrendous inflation , governmentãl corruption, and a combination of ' iecession, drought, iloods, and the deteriorating !" .'i qualityof urban life (Bihar is the blessed state that suffers droughts and floods constantly, usually at the same time). J . P. Narayãn is not only a leading Old Candhian; he is also a veteran of the Acharya . Bhave movement who hâs seen.the suffering and misery of the rural landless workers. While he wäE trying to broaden the base of the agitation to include mass involvement of rural workers, he also attracted two normally antagonistic groups: the iight-wing rural elite parties like the J ana Sangh and its paramilitary wing, the RSS, led by Moraii Desai, and the left-wing Naxalites. For Moraji Desai and his followers, .it was an attempt at yet anodher comeback; while for the Naxalites, it was a chance to broaden their own base and receive some protection from the continuing repression under the DIR and MISA (State of Emergency) regulations. The battle between the J P Movement and the Congress Party in Bihar broadened as it spread to WIN 4WlN 5 t i l 1 Cujarat,,T.his state was the scene of violent rioting and rebellion in 1973, when university students joined the small bourgeoisie and some industrial workers to oppose a corrupt state government and the deteriorating economy. The "J P Movement" swelled with theaddition of Jana Sangh, RSS, Old Congress, Communist Party of lndia (Marxist) and Naxalite cadre, plus newly recruited sarvodaya from many places, including the universities. lt seemed (as thd struggle continued into 1975) that the lndira Candhi government was going to be driven to the ropes and then replaced by some broadly popular decentralist government dédicated to the þrinciples of Gandhianism. Yet the weakness of the J P Movement also became apparent when it proved unable to'respond to the national railways strike that developed during this same time. Part of it was because of the confusion and turmoil within the ranks of the J P Movement as cadre of the various political persuasions rubbed elbows, but part of it was also because lndian Gandhianism has never developed a principled position on industrial workers and its stand on industrialization has been one of almost total opposition. Without the support of the organized'industrial workers, and with the presence of landlords and moneylenders scaring off rural workers, the J P Movement was forced to rely on the volatile but essentially powerless alliance of idealists, small bourgeois, opportí.rnistic rur¿l elite politicos and university students. This alliance was capable of producing a certain amount of flame but very little sustained heat. Meanwhile, those committed to industrialization and centralization had been at each other's throats for years. The battle lines were drawn between those who sought to develop the lndian economy along the path of USSR state capitalism and those who favored integration with the capitalist world market. The technocrats pledged to the process of state planning and the.Communist Party of lndia (pro-Moscow) sought restraints on the privatebàpitalists, while the private capitalists complained bitterly that they weren't being given the freedom to develop as high a rate of prof it as they could earn. The sight of a crystallizing Opposition and a grgwing awareness that the entire process of industrialization in lndia was increasingly threatened began to force the antagonists to i'ally around lndira Candhi, who was and is firmly committed to both Russian and Western models of rapid modernization of the lndian economy and lndian society, by almost any means necessa/y. This closing of the ranks among those who favor further centralization and industrialization was, of course, encouraged by lndira Candhi, who spread the message that " . . . l'm not in trouble, we'rein trouble..." ì\ the stage was set fpr a resolution of the ten yeãrs of lareäly nonviolàÉt political debate. The "civil war" itself verged on open rebellion in those May and J une days when the Opposition, So 6WIN lndian carving of the god Síva, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. now increasingly under the leadership of Moraií Desai, agitated in the streets of New Delhifor ln- dira Gandhi's immediate resignation because of the Allahbad court judgment finding her gqiltlaof corrupt election practises. At the very moment when it seemed that the Opposition.was at its strongest, it was actually at its weakest: the internal strains of the decentralist Opposition were creating such tension that towards the end J,P. Narayan and Moraji Desaiweren't speaking. The Candhian movement to purge and renew lndian society had been taken over by the cadre of of so much I the rural elite, themselves the cause I rural misery. And now it's possible to see that at thg moment that lndira Candþi seemed to be at her weakest, she was actu4lly cementing together a coalition that would let her and her supporters rule with greater strength than before. J udging by the gtandards of the supporters of this experiment in fascism, the Emergency has been far more successful than anyone would've predicted. The monsoon rains were heavy and timely, so that the 1975-1976 crop will be one of the best ever. The jailing of the Opposition and the purging of the civil service helped create enough fear so that urban life runs more smoothly and efficently.than before. The good crops,-the worldwide.recession and the new order prohibiting str:ikes have brought inflation down to the point that the government is claiming "negative inflation." The cohesiveness of the alliance of in- dustrializationists depended on the abiliiy of the Ããw fasc¡st government to win international supoort. oarticularly foreign aid, trade agreements ãÀ¿ ã'tiU"rul credit/investment agreement with ifr" Unite¿ States that would give lndia the high iäãtlnotogv knowledge that its industry drdsperatelv needs. '' iËãiã t uue all been forthcoming, despite the hostile reaction to lndira Candhi personally by most of the Western media. The World Bank has siened agreements for $850 million; agreements have been signed with the lnternational Monetary Fund and the lnternational DevelopmenfAgency, as well as with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). These loans are mostly for "ing that these f raslructure development, " i ndiçqti n lndia-can be thht believe agencies US-dominated fruitfully integrated into the capitalist world market.'A trade treaty with lran was signed for over $1 billion; the lndo-J apane.se Joint Trade Commission successfully negotiated another $'l billion in trade, much of it the "third party" deals that lndia is increasingly accepting. (An industrialized nation like Japan sets up a factory in lndia to use cheap lndian labor, producing products for export to other countries; ¡n essence, runaway shop agreements.) dut ihe icing on the cake came in the first week of October, when External Affairs Minister Y'8. Chavan and Henry Kissinger met in Washington for a two day session of the lndo-US Joint Commission. When the talks had concluded, lndia and the United States were more f irmly trade partners than ever before, with lndiaoþening up formerly protected key sectors of the lndian economy to multi-national investment and with the US committed to giving lndia some of the sizable credits and much of thé advanced technolpgy that it asked for. There was also a suggestion tliat President Ford might visit lndia in the spring-or summer. lt . *as conãidered quite a coup fôr lndira Candhi and her supporters, who had been worried about yvhat stand ihe Unitéd States would take, since media hostility was so great. lt wâs also a viçtoryfor the united States Cñambers of Commerce and the Federation of lndian Chambers of Commerce (FlCCl), both backers of further trade alliances between the US and lndia. The series of diplomatic successes rests on the international recoþnition that the lndian government is now willing to do whatever it has to- in order to become aþart of the capitalist world market, while retaining its ties with the Soviet Union. The program ofexport subsidies has been put into effect and exports are running at a higher iate although it'p too early to tell if the rate of exDorts can bé sustained. Since strikes are banned, broductiori is up, but production is not so much ihe problem as demand, and there has been no vast redistribution of wealth in lndia. The government is getting more income from the crackdown on black money speculators, smuggling and income tax raids, but little of this f ilters down. The attempts at rural land,reform are not purely rhetoric; lndia has followed a policy of building its jndustrial structure at the expense of agriculture, but is now going to try and develop þroductive smallfarmeis. This has been made politically much simpler by the fact of the landlord support of the Oppodition parties. This isn't neces.sarily as \ radicål'as it souhds, either, since even the World Bank encourages far reaching agriculture reforms and a transformation from "prifnitive" agricull ;: ture to "cap¡talist" agriculturg. lf this strategy were completely car'r¡ed through, lndia would have a much smaller percentage of its populãtion engaged in actual farm-' ing, w-ith mosi of the farmers small, eff icient prõducers using the latest Western technology to achieve high yields, while agribusiness technioues would be used in other areas. This demands a tremendous amount of capital to pay for fertilizer.s, special seeds, machinery and skilled' labor. But it would helÞ "stabilize" the countryside¡with a new kulak class and might raise food productivity.'of There would also be trèméndous m¡llions of people, Ss always when bislocation this sort of modernization is attempted. This is one place where the centralized power of the state . is absolutely necessary to squash the inevitable rebellions of the uprooted. What can be learned from Mahatma Candhiji's political and moral teachings that would be of use io the hundfeds of millions of lndians now oppressed not only by the new fascism but by the iemi-feudal, semi-colonial society that blocks their oersonal and political liberation? First of all, Candh¡ii piaced a great deal of value on political analysii, as shown in the selection of tactical atr tacks Iikô the Salt March. Secondly, he constantly worked to develop a broad "United Front"; in the situation before tndependence, a "national ' liberation front" of all lndians against the BritiSh. "to the Third, he constantly took his campaign massés" and insistôd on the importance of winning agrarian support at a time when more Weltein¡zed politìcos like Nehru,were concerned with upper class urban society. Foqrth, Candhiji constanily stressed the need for "Cultural Revolution" within the ranks of the liberation movement, even to the extent of withdrawing" from the struggle until he had personally made changes in himself that he thought were important. Ánd, of course, he was thoroughly com- , , mitted to the creative use of nônviolence to ¿ .e achievesocial,personalandpoliticalchange' ¡:' The main problem in forming "United Fronts" is the questiõn of who you're willing to unite with and who you're unifying against. This calls for political clarity and analysis. -However, the recent round of lndian Candhian political activity showed a great deal of fuzziness and confusion/ as dðmonstrated in the alliance with the landlord/ rural elite/Hindu nationalist groups like the Janq Sangh, the RSS and Moraii Desai's wing of the old ConÉräss Party. This is part of the larger problem of thã "right.left" tendencies within the movement and their basic antagonism, although all concerned believe they are the heirs of the Mahatma. wtN.7 t4 For too many lndian Gandhians, the tact that the rural elite is under attack by the industrial state is suff icient to accept them as allies. This leads to a whole series of assumptionsi thatthe cadre of the landlord /rural elite parties are genuinely concerned with Candhian ideals and the social welfare of the oppressed. Arrests of Candhian satyagrahas and political cadre of the right-wing parties are counted together; yet how many of these are dédicated Candhians and how many aie representatives of the old feudal orders, fighting for survival? Similiarly, some lndian Candhians were tremendously upset by the arrest of Moraji Desai and referred to him as 1 ' "Morajibhai," "Respected Older Brother Moraji Desai." Yet there are many others who would feel that Moraji Desai is no friend of the rural worker and certainly not a progressive in the Western sense of the world. Again, some lndian Gandhians feel that the state of Cujarat is an oasiç of libérty because it is ruled by the Opposition "United People's Front." But what political groupings are represented in this United Front? The Jana Sangh, the Desai-led Old Congress and the KMLP, a landlord/rich peasant political party headed by the same Chiminbhai Patel who was the target of the earlier J P agitation in 1974. ln short, for many lndian Gandhians, the main unifying prirìciple of the "underground opposition" is still opposition to lndira Candhi as a person and as prime minister. This is a fatalistic, negative analysis; opposition to Indira Candhi is not a political prograni nor a positive demonstration of nonviolent social change. Butihis focus on the removal of lndira Candhi allows an avoidance of more basic issues. The failure of the Opposition can be blamed on the news media or on the "welfare state." Yet neither of these excuses display any understanding of what a healthy movement is about. Certainly the liberation forces of China or Vietnam didn't need the newspapers to tell them what was going on. And while the "passiveness" of the people might be blamed to a certain extent on welfare statism in thê advanced industrial nations, it's not had much of an effect in lndia, for the sinrple reason that the vast majority of the lndian people receive nothing from the lndian government. Simple arithmetic will bear this out: the entire non-military budget of lndia comes to about $5 billion annually. There are over 600 million lndians; that means about $8-$9 per lndian per year, hardly enough to encourEge any false sense of security. I do not question the sincerity of those lndian Candhians who accept such explanations for the sudden collapse of the opposition. However, ther-e seems to be another exþlanation that makes more sense in light of the lndian situation. This would be that the serious and highly principled o¡iginal J P Movement was genuinely trying to dèvelop a broad mass base and build ties with rural workers and others who had becomê alienated by the corruption and misrule not only oÍ srouos to can one reconcile the task of a"leÍt" revolutionary United,Front iootda in the masses of rural landless wörkers, at the same time reaching out to industrial workers with the vision of a decentralized, worker-cont.oit"a society, achieved through creative non- the ruling Congress Party but also the rural elite. However, at the same ti-me, there was a loose alliance of political parties who were being forced into extinction through the Congress Party's increasing control of the parliamentary system. This struggle to control the parliamentary system was also a struggle to control the lndian state, a conflict which the industrialist/centralists were winning because the rural elite parties essentially were also the oppressors of the rural landless workers and the outcastes. Thé Opposition was a movement without roots; the J .P.-led Movement of Candhians and sarvodayas was developing a base among the small bourgeoisie of the towns and some rural landless. Political opportunists like Morali Desai then made the overtures towards alliance and joint action against lndira Gandhi and the industrialist/ centralists, a move which at first w.as welcomed by J.P. Narayan and the socially coñcerned cadre of the J P Movement which was trying to build a broad United Front in much the same manner as Candhiji had, 40 years before. Unfortunately, it was a serious mistake on the part of the embryonic "left Candhians." The presence of people like Morali Desai in a movement fqr broad social change was like the presence of Coldwater in the Continental Walk. It's true that Coldwater is opposed to the "liberal" state-capitalist drift of the Democratic Party, but are we all really on the same side? For: the peasants in lndia the answer was no. A party that included representatives of the rural elite oppressors was not a party that met their needs,'no matter how revolutionary thè tactics or rhetoric. Within months, the followers of Desai came to dominate the Opposition-J P Movement alliancd and the search for a unified revolutionary Indian Carrdhianism was abandoned in favor of more conventionai opþortunistic porùer politics. The traditionalist, essentially reactionary forces took over the control of an otherwise promising step forward for both Candhianiqm and leftist decentralist politics. lt was true that the Opposition's willingness to operate outside the parliamentary system was a radical step, but it was a radicalism of desperation, not of strength. This raises another problem, perhaps best summarized by an ex-Maryknoll friend who worked with Mayan tribespeople in Mexico: how : violence. Nevertheless, I think it reallywill be suicide not to undertake this 'lCultural Revolution" right Ítow, even under present repressive conditions. The moräl and political clarity that would develop, I believe-, would far surpass the momentary advantages of a continued alliance with the J ana Sangh et al. Orice it was clear that there was a nonviolent, revolütionary alliance in opposition to both the present fascist policy of i ndustrial ization/central ization and the conti n ued dominance of the landlords. l.believe the"lndian, situation woúld reward creative ngnviolence. , lndira Candhi and her supportbÌs aren't blind to thesil realities and are taking steps to neutralize opposition from this key "third sèctor" of landless r wofkers and industrial workers. By using the carrot and the stick selectively, and through a constant "testing" of the politicalwaters, they remain on the offensive. J.P.'s release from jail Nov. 17 can be seen as part of this "testin!" process; as of right now, it's too early to tell what êffect the ailing J .P. will have, since he is doubtlessly closely watched by the police, Tl're structure of fascism is being reinforced through such measures as additional amendmehts to the MISA/DIR detention rules and a purge of the lndian medla. The new amendments mean that neither the prisoner nor the lawyer norù havê a legal right to find out what charges have been inade. The restructure of the lhdian media (with the co-operation of most of the newspaper owners) involves firing many of the outspoken editors and replacing them with more sympathetic (to the gbvernmlnt) personnel. ln úhefall¡t seemed likely ihat the Eméigency would bq lifteci in time for the March electioñs, in which lndira Candhiand her supporters aie bound to do well, by hook or by cróok. However, now it appears that the Emergency won't be lifted until the leaders of the indu.sti¡al¡stslcentralists, lndira Candhi., heir supporters, etc., are convinced that it is no longer necesiary. This means that the Emergency won't be lifted until the basic features of the new fascism have been written into law; then, when fascism is fully legalized, the Emergency will be abolished. This cosmetic change will not, therefoÈe, bring any more freedom to lndia. However. their streneth conceals their weakness. Success in penetrãting the capitalist world ntarket means increasing exploitation of the domestic population. Nomatter how much the ðãrrorund siick are used, the burden falli on the ñà;;iñ;iñit eis aña ttíeiural landless, and there will be an ongoing potential for rebellion and I Photo from the Metropol¡tan Mu.seum of Art. . "conciliation" with the realities of "class struggle?" This is a problem in all formsof political activity and I have no ready answer. But this one thing I feel sure of : unless the lndian Candhian movement enters into political alliance with industrial workers and the rural landless, and rejects the support and political activity of the landlord-dominated rural elite, lndian Candhianism will never developthe broad mass base necessary to overcome the daily violence of lndian society and the lndian state. Recalling the adage about changing horses in mid-stream, I understand it seems like suicide to advocate a principled move away from cadre and politicos of the rural elite parties/opposition revolution. Will the lndian Candhian movement, and other decentralist revolutionary forces be able to rise to the challenge? This is the question of the moment to those concerned with nonviolence and an'end to casteism, sexism and landlordism in lndia. wrN9 SWIN i i I t I 1 a ) A Personal View of lndia's Crisis KUMAR MEHTA On the invitation of a rural development group consisting mainly of university students, I had the opportunity this summer to spend a week in a rural area in Madhaya Pradesh. lt was rice transplanting season. Men and women, both young and old, were working in knee.deep mud under a hot sun. After 10-12 hours of hard labor, what was the compensation? I was told that they were landless workers whose daily wage consisted of one kilogram of coarse grain. The land was owned by a {,.' rich landlord. No doubt, there were land-ceiling laws, but with some help from friendly politicians and bureaucrats, the clever landlords managed to escape them. For instance, the titles to legallypermíssible pariels of land were held under difierent names, but for all practical purposes the entire 6@ acres of land were owned and managed by one and the same man. Over 90% of the village population consisted of landless workers. They lived in dilapidated mudhuts with thatched roofs which leaked very badly during rain. There were no sanitation or drinking I water facilities. lt is hard for me to forget that bread made from edible wildflowers (mahua f lower) was a regular part of their food because there was no other way to provide two meals a day to all the members of a family, which frequently included old parents. Since the work on the land was seasonal,.many were part-time artisans such as blacksmiths, shoemakers, weavers, masons, carpenters, etc. The wages for artisan work were so meager that there was never enough money to meet minimum personal n'eeds of food, clothing, health care and education. About 35 years ago I had spent a few years of my childhood in a rural area, and I vaguely remembered the poverty in villages during the British raj. But never expected to find so much visible poverty after 28 years of self-rule. What happened to Candhiji's dream of a prosperous countrys ide? . * **** Surprisingly, after lndia won independence from the British rule in 1947 , the Candhian path of lndia's progress through rural prosperity was ignored- in favor of the so-called "modern'f path of progress. lndia adopted a Western model of socialism by capitalistic strategies involving big money, latest technology, and centralization of from a longer piece. 10WlN Drawing by LNS Womens Craphics Collective economic and political powerl For a predominantly agricultural nation, the governmental planning andixpenditure of national resources focused heavily on the industry and the city. Therefore it ís not surprising that during the years 1947-75, afle.r many dams, steel plants and chemical factories, the masses in the rural areas remain very poor. According to statistics released by the Covernment of lndia,4O%o of the population continues to be below the poverty line. The poor, comprised generally of landless peasants, earn as agricultural labor about 200 rupees a month for a family of seven. The families live in single-room huts, and can àfford only one full meal a day and have rarely an extra set of clothes for a change. Thus, it came as a shock to me that after independence.the number of people below the poverty line has not decreased, but has aÒtually doubled from 120 million in1947 to24O million in1975. **** economic'reward as the barber's; a life of labor is the life worth living. This is why Candhiji advocated that both economically and otherwise the value of mental work should not be considered superior to manual work. He said that perpetuation of class and caste'ridden economy and polity would not end unless society recognizes that worth of every human being and the necessity of providing work and adequate compensation for work. Candhiji wrote in the Youn g India of November 28,1928, "Economic constitution of lndia, indeed of the world, should be súch that no one should suffer from want of food and clothing. ln other words everybody should be able to get suÎficient work to enable him to make two ends nieet. This ideal can be universally realized only if the means of production of elementary necessities of life remain in the control of masses.f ' ***** It is interesting to note thatonly aboutl5o/o of the people in l'ndia are affected in any significant manner by the national emergency. Only the rich, the middle class and the industrial employees, which make up the top 15o/o, enioy some economic 2l ',1 : The Gandhian ideas of political economy, which were ignored by the post-independence leaders of lndia as being old-fashioned and irrelevant to the 20th century,tappear to me now not only highly relevant but essential to the solution of lndia's problems. Mahatma Candhi was against mass production and distribution of goods because these are associated with concentration of economic and political power. He wanted a communitarian society with all sharing control over govern i n g, produci n g and distributi n g processes. His model of self-sufficient, self-ruling villages was based on the concept that location of power nearer to the people is essential to prevent its possible abuses. Candhiji's socio-economic thoughts, which were influenced by Ruskin, show three key elements: the good of the individuaf is contained in the good of all; all have the sâmd right of earning their livelihood from their work, therefore, a lawyer's work should have the same Continued on Page ; BY tioqeRlVitlc o NTURNs A I was surprised and very pleased to see the article on Liberia by Edward Honnold in WIN (12/11/75). I thought pi:rhaps a few more bits of-information on Firestone, and on other US companies in Liberia, would interest WIN readers. Firestone's position in Liberia is of course not nearly as dominant now as it was before the advent of the stgel companies. fonMnNy AvrER¡cAN o rEs 'ln 1969 there were at least 43 US companies in Liberia. At least 19 of them had gross revenues that year larger than Liberia's 1968 Cross Domes-tic Product. Sixteen of them ranked in the top 200 of Forbes magazine's annual ranking. Six were in the top 20. Liberia's iron mining industry is its largest industry ín terms of capital investment and export value. Rubber is its largest in terms of employment and land area used. Two US steel companies, Bethlehem Steel and Republic Steel, share dominance of the iron mining industry with Swedish and West Cerman companies. Three US rubber companies- Firestone, Coodrich, and Uniroyal -with another smâll Ameri.can-owned company hold four of the six rubber concessions. (The other two are held by West Cerman and Dutch interests.) The largest rubber concession, of course, is Firestone's. Liberia is highly dependent on exports: in 1966 half of her Cross Domestic Product came from exports (4.3o/o of the US's came from exports). Liberia's exports depend heavily on just the two commodities, iron ore and rubber: together they made up B9%o of her exports in 1967 . Liberia's foreign trade depends on only a few countries: in Roger Walke is a member oÍ the Departmentof Anthropology at the University of Oregon at , Eugene. wlN 11 .t 3\ys of Liberia'à exports wgnt to the US and 28o/o to West Germany. Notonly !iberia's foreign lradg, but her government revenuesf and the jobs and income of ñer wage workers (as yet a small percentage of the population), are very dependent on iron ore andl iubber. Between 1951 and 1960 Firestone and the (then) only iron mine'in the country paid an average of 4O%o of the government's total revenues; 'the new rubber and iron ore concessions since then can only have raised that percentage. ln 1960 over 35o/o of the total wages of Liberia's wage workers was paid by foreign concessions (chiefly rubber and iron ore); in 1961 they employed about 42o/o of the total wage workers. Another 10o/o of Liberia's government revenues came from ship registrations- Liberia is a "flag of convenience," and in 1973 had the world's largest merchant fleet. An American bahk is Liberia's Maritime Administrator, or ship iegistrar. Firestone's profits from its rubber plantations in Liberia are hard to ascertain, but here are some old figures on return dn investment. Firestone's total i-nvestment in Liberian rubber from 1926 to 1961 was about $30 million. lts total profits during the five years 1956-196O were $95 million; its after-tax profits were $66 million, or about $13 million a year. So for that five-year period alone, Firestone's return on its total investment was about 43o/o a year- in other words, Firestone was making back its 30-year investment once every .21/t yeárs.ln the late 1960's Firestone's total wage payments averaged $4 million a yearf or about 3Oö/o of its annual after-tax profits of a decade earlier. lf labor is the largest part of its annual costs, you can imagine what Firestone's return on annual sa/es is. According to US rubber industry analysts, Firestone holds the dominant industry position in natural rubber. This gives it a competitive edge over its rivals in the production of radial tires, which (at least in mid-1974) are 45o/o natural rubber, whereas conventio¡al tires are only 22o/o natural rubber. (Some sort of metaphor about Americans' almost literally riding on the backs of Liberian rubber workers comes to mind here.) Firestone also supplies latex to the carpeting, garment, and dipped-goods industries, and sells a latex non-rubbei polymer (natural latex is only about 35% rubber) to the adhesives industry. Besides being the largest producer.in Liberia, Fir:estone is the largest buyer of rubber there' 1967 lq , local rubber. . subsidiary. Other countries are also important in Liberia. West Cermans and Swedes, whose companies are just about as important as US companies in the iron mining industry, make up the bulk of the expatriate managment of the mines. ltalian and lsiaeli f irms dominate construction. Retailing is chiefly in the hands of small Lebanese famiJy ¡ f irms, as well as a few large West German f irms. Transportation (mostly taxis and buses) is in the handsof lslamic,Africans, most of whom are probably not Liberian. The vast majoríty.of cars .and busôs, by the way, are J apanese and West Cerman imports. And most retail goods seem to be, not Amèrican, but cheap Far Eastern and European goods. I mèntion these facts because I want to em-phasize that it is not particular companies at fault here, or just the US. A great many companies, from a great many countries (includ:. ing those nice Swedes and those worker-participating Cermans), are involved in the exploitation of thgThird World. lt ¡s a world-wide system; and Fireston is just one example from one country. a bus B€NlINC ÎH€ Svç΀trl R/ t Liberia had seven commercial banks in 1968 (not three). Three are US-olyned, and another is partially US-owned. The only wholly Liberianôwned bank has a correspo¡dent-bank relationship with a US barik, the Chemical Bank of New' York. Citicorp (First National City Bank of New York) owns the Bank of Monrovia; Chase Manhattan owns a branòh in Monrovia; Bankers Trust shares its ownership of a bank with Mediobanca (a major ltalian bank); and the International Bank' (noi the IBRD, but â private company) owns B0olo of another bank. The Bank of Monrovia is the targest and most important one. lt is the official depository of the Liberian government; it þerforms f iscal agent functions for the govern-, ment; and it was in 1962 the largest domestic creditor of the government, holding 1'l^.60/o of the national debt. Not bad, even for a Citicorp line; and I thought that surely u pq*ò; without a car could get a iob here. Yet the personnel managef of this particular factory wanted to interview iób applicants who had cars. He þreferred them, he said, because he thought tley were morê reliable in showing up forwork. And { this job category started oüt at $2.50 per hourwith overtime workgrs maYbe,cpuld take home $90 a week! You could öossibly feed a car on sucþa satary, but you couid never raise a family, es-,i' pecially not a family and an automobile combined. That is how the system works. lf you are poor and born in the ghetto, if your father cannot buy r you a car because he's never had the money to buy one for himself , then you iust never really get started in the system. Without a car you don't . -work, and without work you'can't get a car. Unless you steal one. And that usually brings you up against the other repressive institutions of this { Most of the six foreign rubber concessions in the country buy rubber produced by Liberian rubbergrovriers (both big officials and small peasants ãt¡te). They are the Liberian ¡ubbei-growers' only market. Firestone, as the biggest buyer, has an interest in letting its arm be twisted "to adiust wages to the local scale," because that way it helþs keep its suppliers' costs-down, so it won't be facäd w¡th pressures to raise the prices it pays for BICVCL€ I ED ARSZMAN The lowly, humble bicycle i s the vehicle of the s strugEurdpean working class. ln gle in America is very tude toward bicycles will ever have'an not the poor will poverty depends freeways s imaginative it is corrupt Look at it ten mil s at that. that are . iceable Schw inn 3-speed once , it was one of the better sron A oppression I cities and in cities work. cycle is the most readil v the h the .. basically . er and the e can go places besides a and a few nally, the bicycle is s to Cars the universally. es th s pollution; lnes of of either ica's of' lutely unrelated to the work on the job itself ' .t rómember once talking to the personnel manager of a factory offerinþ $2.50 an hour iobs. These were simple machine operator occupations involving no blue print reading or specialskills. At that wage level thê employer could not ask for much. What is more, the factory was located within ten blocks of the downtown area; it was on . Ed Arszman recentlv made a "Bike for Jobs" cross-count fv bicyctê trip. He is a Íounder and èoordinator of The Committee for Zero Auto' mobile Growth, PO Box 44666, Indianapolis, lN 452M. le in ch e cars, allkinds Vietnamese and the peopl e on bicycles won the about motor , and The es primarily, o thêir ever- lasting credit they won. Ride a bike and support the revolution .tY ìzwtN lily ? Well, the bicycle is-the vehicle Almost anyone can own a bike. I society subtle and the forms of that feels because it lives allthe Background draw¡¡g by Mark Morris ! wtN 1-1 , I Witness:the most ¡mportant felony I have per- i son al ly ever. comrfì ¡tted I : Our marriage, like our courtsh.ip, \as been conventional . lt was love àt f irst sight when we met at the elevator iust outside the sixth-Íloor tearoom of rL ¡l the AtlantaYMCA. Ernestwas afãshion coor: dinator for a local department store, I a state co/lege professor from 100 miles awQY, dgep in the oöach and pecan orchards. One of us Black, the 'other white; both native Southerners . We com' muted every weekend for five months. Our triends weren'tst¡rprised when we decided to marryWe would have wasted our time to senid an announr"r"'nt to the local papers. Besl'des, the bank ämpióiéei spread the word ìust as effectiue.lv when'we took out a ioint account. Our wedding itLouie Crew has published over B0 items recently, in Christian Century, Harper's, Saturday Review, and scores ol collegiate and literary magazines. Hè is an editor of ÑOtf and lntegrity, and is listed in Leaders of Black America' This paper was originally read 7 /12/75 at a symposium on victim/esi crimes held at IJ. of South Florida, St. Petersburg. se/f was 'private,lust the two of us and the Holy Spirit. Pàrents, though loving, would not have welcomed the occasion, and our priest had no Eoiscopal authoritv (or desire) to off iciate. Two neiehbórs, historians, sent a bottle of "õ^ri^,ent chumpagne; a psychologistfriend droppe.d in . earlier to propose a toast; others sent welcomtng tokens. We unloaded the heavier gear from the car before 'ã^cnbeginning the ceremony. Then we carried oíhe, acrãss the thresho ld (a neat trick, reallvl into the dining room, where the table was set ,hít¡ t*o wine glásses from Woolworth's, one lone and lighted red candle instead of our customary two gieen ones, a vase with one early narcissus (aÍter all, I am an English professor!.), and an open Bookof Common Prlyer. We read theservice Áeivousty, its fearsome biddiJtc and pledges. The words woman.and wife translated readily as : spouse, man, husband, Person. All tookonly aboutten minutes One could be too quickto sentimentalize a few details, such as our bed, a 2\0-year-old four' ooiter'bu¡lt bv the s/ave ancestor of one of us for 'the Íree ancestor of the other ' Perhaps we were futlitlingtheir dream? Or Dr. King'sdream- - . ? 20 million commit civil disobedience d,-{ But we lind day-to-day living too difficult for us to negotiate other people's drearns: we uibrk at living our own dream, a dream no difÍerent from the dream of niany other couples, a dream of a home -with much love to bridge our separateness. Even at the risk of wrongly seeming to speak for. all Gays,,a i¡eople rrruch too numerous and beautifully diverseto be locked into only one dream, I stress first the personal noté mainly be, cause we Cay felons are typically viewed not as persons, but as numbers or object's for manipulation. The distance gained by third person pronouns is the space the law úsés to institutionalize the hostile feelings of the majority, while at the same time freeing the majority from thq discomfort of taking responsibility for the personal and human consequences of those h$tile feelings. There are, by the stingiest of nonCay estimates, between 15-25 million Americans who have a major portion of our sexual arousal and response with members of the same sex. All action in response to such natural arousal, however, is a felony in 39 states. (The eleven who have repealed such laws are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, lllinois, Maine, New Mexico, . . : Reeves iust by being gay. Photo by Lana North Dakota, Ohio and Oregon.) FurthedÈnore, even to suggest the possibility of'acting'on'súch arousal (as in the seemingly innocuousstatement to a friend, "You turn me on; let's get together") is in most of these states deemed "solicitation to commitian immoral act" and subject-tö òiim¡nal . prosecútion. The consequences of these antiCay laws (or . i: "sodomy statutes" as yott call them).cannot be measured in the admittedly low numberof afrests and convictions actually sought, but in the eË fectiveness of the laws in thus institutionalizing the taboo perceived by the majority. In jobs and housing, for example, an admitted felon, whethe¡ convictèd or not, has no clout in claiming her civil rights. Hence, there is monumental p-ressure on Cay persons to "þass," to pretend (often even to " ourselves) that we are not really Cay. Thereby many of us affirm our second-class citizenship and make mockery of our "freedom of association," rqlegating "freedom" to the criminal undergiound which the law thus creates; with its threats of blackmail and concomitant abuse; Further more, understandilfg parentç of Cay children (and there are damn few parents who know how to understand, much less love, their Cay children !) are placed under the formidable burden of knowing how to counsel their children to integrate their. Gay sexuality with their whole personhood and still protectthem from the severest disenfranchisement effected by the law. Because of the illegal status of Cay relations, Cay persons are denied positive visibility throughoút our culture, particularly on the media and in the institutions of Church and higher education. Cóntrary to fact, all achievers are pre' sumed to be heterosexual, and Cays are denied ' ready access to knowledge of our extensive con-- '. tributions to history and to this society. Caï, ' childien (and we are all children of our more than . : ' a0 millioÀ nonCay parents, as we have not yet ,; developed means of repiodtrction !) are thus ' denied access to the kinds of positive models that i will help us grow up as healthy Cays, while there :. . is not one shred of convincing evidençe that such '':',.' censorship has ever kept even one Cav child from growing up Cay. - Orie ðonsequ'ence of our long hiding in the heterosexual society is that we Cays know much more about non'Cays than noncays know about us. As an outsider, I 3ee nuch in the hetero rivorld . of which I disapprove: your burgeoning divorcCi . rate, for example; your millions of loveless fainilies still hanging together; your raging sex- :' .. ism; your high incidence of violence in sexuality; your pleasure ¡n commbrcializing your brand of sexuality. My,husband and I do not want to "smell clean." for Lifebouy; nor do we want to be on your Ceritol ads! Yet it would never occur to us tp illegalize your affectional preferences or even to deprive one hetqro person of our regpect because of what we disapprove in" another hétero person. Yet such legal and social maneuvers are your oppression of us and of our Þeople by the millions daily. Your laws are madness and your behavior is ' inhumane to the extreme. I pray that you may find deliverance , .. . o I I BV Louie 14 WIN Crew -rv WIN 15 may have than fatten the profits.of the agribiz HEADS AND TALES is an occasional column for essays of human liberation and personal experience. Should you care to write abut where your head is at, please lim¡t your contribution to 800 words. giants. A statement that the state, the church, the corporation, the organization, does not belong interfering in one's life is meaningf ul. ln essence the realization that all of these institutions are creations of humanity on a power trip is important. Change in the basic concept of what humanity is about is what i's needed if these manifestations of the present power-mad self-image are to be changed. To change that conception of self one needs to change one's thoughts, one's words, one's deeds. Gandhi called for Ahimsa-nonviolence- in all of these aspects of one's life. Putting that on a practical level vegetarianism is a first and easily attdinable step for ãnyone. lt does not require forceful action, demonstrations, bombings, petitions. . .for anyone can become a vegetarian simply by switching one's diet. No one's permission is required to change except one's own. ln this way we will have demonstrated an essential truth to ourselves, a truth oÏ nonviolence by affirming our basic harmless natures as human beings. lt is this'r.éassertion of humanityls basic goodness which is necessary if ' humanity is to overcome the traps of avarice, murder and other power trips which go hand in hand with flesh eating, Yes, there are good people who are still tied to the habit of eating animals, or even people, in some parts of our world. But these people could become even better people if they would bury their hatchets, make their swords into ploughshares and take the daggers off their belts, ln fact the belts themselves need not'be made of the skins of murdered animals. lf we can abandon ChAN l I once believed that one needed to use force to end oppression. Later, when I examined that pfemise it seemed that thouþh it might be valid in certain cases on a practical basis, in the basic sense it represented a contradiction. For how could one really teach others to cease the use of force by the use of force? 4, 1à Finally l'realized that if in one's day to day ac,tions one were an oppressor, whether of humans for profit or power, or of animals for food or clothing, then one would expect that oppression would become the rule of lÍfe. Oppressors in fact must expect not only to oppress but to be oppressed. lf one could abandon oppression and live in' peace and harmony.with one's neighbors, not interfering with their lives, not eating or wearing them, perhaps one could change one's relations with everyone, could build a better world. At this point vegetarianism became meaningful to me and I became a vegetarian. I have been one since. Many, I suspect, have become vegetarians for similar or identical reasons. We need to build a world of love in which power is not the motivation for life. To build such a world will require that èach of us in day to day life live a life of love. To live without taking life sçems to be the basic beginning for a compassionate world's creation. For many vegetarians the knowledge that one need not kill animals to live is enougih of a reason to become vegptarian and to help to spread the word. For others the realization that one can live on less than Yz the 2,000|bs. of grain required by an American flesh-eater theôe days if one consumes one's food directly rather than inefficiently via animals gives one reason enough in a world of hungry people to become vegetarian and to spread the word. For some compassion begins with the self , the realization that better health is possible on a natural vegetarian diet is motivation from which to grow into other forms of compassion. Still ôthers realize that a vegetarian diet costs less and thus enables us to do more with what money we 16 murder in daily life perhaps we can come closer to that utopia of love and compassion which we all . really want. Vegetarianism is a primary and ' 'meaningful step in that directions. CONTACT: There are many reasons for vegetarianism and there are many vegetarian journals which can help one to understand them. North American Vegetarians,501 Old Harding Highway, Malaga, NJ 08328 publishes Vegetàrian Voice and offers autonomous affiliation to any vegetarian group ready to affiliate. Vósetarian World, published from suite 216, 8235 Santa Monica Bouleúard, Los Angeles, California 90046 offers diversified news to vegetarians and membership in a Vegetarian Book Club as well as subscriptions to this quarterly newspaper of broad ranging interest. The Vegetarian Review & Digest published from Box 211, Haverlord, Pennsylvania 19041 is a new vegetarian newspaper published on a quarterly basis which gives news of interest to vegetarians and others and publishes the thoughts of vegetarians and vegetarian groups. Subscriptions are'available. The1976 North American vegetarian convention will be held for eight days in early August in Ithaca, New York, hosted by the North American Vegetarians of Malaga, NJ 08328. PROTESTS AGA¡NST US DEATH OF PAUL ROBESON Paul Robeson, actor, singer, athlete, scholar, social phílosopher and polítical activist died on Friday, J anuary 23 atthe age of 77 Universally acclaimed as a brilliant actor and powerful vocalist, Robeson was hounded from a TTTE INTERVENT¡ON INANGOLA HELD IN NEW YORK AND DC : BOB PINKUS E5 " Demonstrations in New York and Washington, DC drew hundreds of people to protest US interyêntion in Angola January 17 and'19. ln New York an enthusiastic, multi-national crowd of 1,2OO, marched over a mile in subfreezing weather to a rally in a buildint+ off Union Square. The demonstrators attracted many followers on the way and people waved in support from windows on the route. Speakers at the rally, included Maritza Arrastia of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, Dennis Serrette, president of the New York Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Paul lrish of the MPLA Solidarity Committee in New York, Nick DeFreigas of Youth Against War and Fascism and others. Upwards of 400 people demonstrated in Washington, DC-t¡ruÒ days later to demand an end to US intervention, in Angola. The J anuary 19 protest was timed to coincide with the beginning of the final debate in the House of Rep- 'j resentatives that would cut off all funds for CIA activities involving Angola except for those intended for " intel ligence gathering. " The demonstrators converged on the Capitol steps at noon and heard speeches from J udge William Booth, president of the American Committee on Africa; con gressional representative Bella Abzug; activist Cora Weiss and others. "ln phrases reminiscent of the immoral and unpopular war in lndochina, the Administration has said that our purpose in Angola is 'to help people to defend them. selves"' organizers of the demonstration said in a press conference earlier in the morning. "And yet when the people of Angola were fighting to free themselves from Portuguese colonialism the United States gave the IPortuguese] Salazar and Caetano regimes invaluable . successful career on stage and screen by McCarthy era attacks on his political convictions. Throughout his career Robeson vigorously fought racial discrimirfation and publ icly embraced social ism. Though he denied being a member of the Communist Party, his unabashed admiration for the Soviet Union and his refusal to compromise his political and social beliefs resulted in rnanyof his appearances being cancelied. Vigilantes attacked a crowd waiting outside one of his concerts in Peekskill, NY in August, '1949..Joe McCarthy attacked him numerous times in his Senate Committee. Despite the harsh treatment he received in the Uníted States, he was still widely acclaimed duiing professionaltours in Europe. He moved to London in 1958 and though he claimed at the time: "l don't want any overtones of suggestion that I am deserting the country of my birth," many felt he left in bitterness over his treatrnent by white Americans. Robeson remained in England until 1963 when he returned to New : York. -WlN political and economic support, thus assisting them to retain their African colonies. What the US is now doing is a continuation of the same policy, seeking to prevent the people of Angola from reach. ing true independence. " The House will be voting on the Angola amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill within a few days. The Amendment already passed in the Senate in a 54-22vote in mid-December, a clear expression of opposition to mounting US covert action in Angola. But the amendment has substantial loopholes. ln addition to al lowing f unds for' iinte{l igence gathering" activities, it doeín't affect the fi27-35 million already spent in the last seven months nor the $6-9 million already allotted * for Angola but not yet spent. Nevertheless, demon strators on Capitol Hillfelt the amendment is a f irst and important step and will continue to push for a total end to US intervention in Angola. -LNS 2 HELD 8 MONTHS FOR CONTE.MPT Two activists, Ellen Crusse and Terri Turgeon, who refused to co- operate with a federal grand jury, were freed Dec. 19 from Niantic State Prison in Connecticut after serving eight months for con- tempt. The grand jury had been seeking information on the whereabouts of Susan Saxe and Katherine Power. Saxe and Power were alleged accomplices in two politically motivated bank robberies during the mass protests in 1970 against the government escalation of the war in lndochina. A police officer was killed during the Boston, Mass., holdup. Saxe was arrested last year after f ive years as a fugitive. Power remains underground.',' Federal grand juries such as the one in Connecticut have been used as a weapon to harass activists in the women's movement with whom, the government. charges, Saxe and Power sougþt refuge. j Crusse and Turgeon were freed after a nationwidetampaign against such grand jury harassment. The campaign, involving many feminist organizatiöhs and activists, was organized by the New York-based Crand J ury Prolect. The project is currently calling for increased pressure for the release of a third prisoner, J ill Raymond, who has been held in a Kentucky prison for over a year for her refusal to cooperate with a similar grand jury. WIN wlN 17 '-' One of the focuses of the project is on the illegality of the govern- 1 DEMONSTRAT¡ONS ON MARTIN LUTHER KING'S BTRTHDAY FOCUS ON JOBS, ment's use of grand juries to BUSING & POLICE BRUTATITY harass women, minorities and the left. Under current practices, if J anuary 15, 1976 saw demonstrations across the country comrecipients of grand jury memorating the birthday of Mar; subpoenas exercise their constitin Luther King, and addressing tutional right to remain silent, many of the current political and they often face prison for the economic problems facing Amerilength of the grand jury. Letters demanding freedom for cans, and particularly black Americans. J ill Raymond should be addressed Many cities and states officially to Eldon Webb, Acting US Atrecognized King's birthday, intorney, Federal Building, cltrding New York, New Jersey, Lexington, Ky. 40501 St. Louis and Chicago. There were Guardian -The marches in Memphis, Tennessee, where King was murderqd in 1968 while leading a sanitation workers strike, and in Montgomery, Ala' bama where he led ¿ bus boycott twenty years ago. Three citiesAtlanta, Ceorgia, Louísville; Kentucky, and Columbia, South ine- saw particularly large Carol LËSBIAN MOTHER SUIT demonstrations. Mary Jo Risher, a lesbian mother, Atlanta-"We marched to dehas lost custody of her nine-Yearmand jobs, full employment," old son as a result of a decision said one of the organizers of the passed down by a domestic relaAtlanta march, which drew some tions court jury. Risher's attorney 20,000 people in a parade that attempted to prohibit the defenstretched for nearly two miles. dant's sexual preference from be"lt was the thinking of Coretta ing made an issue in the ca5e, but King and many of us who worked the motion was denied bV J udee with Dr. King, that if he had lived, Owen Chrisman. in light of the economic situatioñ Risher has had custody of her in this country, he would have had two sons,,J immy¡ 17, and us take no other focus than that of Richard, 9, since 1971 when she jobs. So we used.his birthday as a and her husband were divorced. springboard to speak to one of the Last summer J immy left his most pressing and relevant issues mother's home to live with his in the nation unemployment. " father who subsequently filed suit The march began at the to gain custody of Richard on the Ebenezer Baptist Church where grounds that the boys' mother King was once pastor, and ended was unfit because of her homoin downtown Atlanta. Speakers at sexuality. the rally included Atlanta mâyor During the custody trial Mary Maynard J ackson, the mayors of J o Risher testified in the presence New York, Detroit and Cary, ln= of a jury of ten men and two diana, and Coretta King. women that her love for Ann ¡ Louisville-"ln Louisville, Foreman, with whom she had busing was the issue," said a been living for two years, does not Southern Christian Leadership interfere with her ability to raise Conference (SCLC) organ izer Richard. Attorney Aglaia Mauzy about the J anuary 15 told the jury that Risher was a demonstration there. "warm, loving mother" who Some 2,500 people led by black provided a"good, clean environactivist Dick Cregory and memment." bers of the SCLC marched one The câse is being appealed. For ' mile to the Louisville federal more information contact: The courthouse. Later the demonMary Jo Risher Fund, c/o Dallas strators held a rally in a local County NOW, PO Box 12431, church. Dallas, TX 45225. Throughout the fall there was -Majority Report much víolent white opposition to lBWIN school desegregation in the city. ln early September hundreds o were arrested and dozens inlured when anti-busing forces burned buses and broke store windows. ' "l think the march was a show I t- of strength," continued the SCLC organizer, "to show that black people in Louisville feel that the I buses must roll foreach black person there to receive a quality education. " Columbia-An estimated 10,000 South Carolinians came out in Columbia, the capital, January 15 in what many described as the' largest civil rights demonstration in the state's history. Of major concern to many marchers was police brutality and in particular, the fatal shootings of eight black people by white policemen in the state in just over a year. "We are here because we are : tired of the indignities we have suffered because of bigotry, ignorance, racism and greed," said 'one speaker, Rev. Matth'ew D. McCollom, president of the Southern Conference of the NAACP. -tNS NATIVE HAWAIIANS MOVE TO TAKE BACK ISLAND . Thirty native Hawaiians denlan$ ing the return of the island of Kahoolawe-now used as a Navy bombing range- " invaded" the island in early J anuary on a fleet of sailboats The 30, without weapons, sailed from Maui, eight miles away, after hearing that the government . was delaying consideration of whether to return Kahoolawe for a year while a "feasibility" study was being conducted. Some of the native Hawaiians are members of the Hawaiian Coalition of Native Claims. A groups called the ALOHA (Aboriginal Lands of Hawaiian Ancestry) has been demanding the return of the island since 1973 as part of a billion dollar reparations progfam to native Hawaiians. Two of the 30 native Hawaiians stayed on the island for two days before they could be hunted down by the navy and Coast Cuard. The two were cited for trespassing, but as yet no formal charges have been filed. -The Guardian The proposed draft registrattorl day of March 31 has been temporarily postponed. lf and when such an event occurs there will be resistance, including sorìre.;; who will refuse to register for any type of conscription. A special ¡ssue of the Catho/ic Agitator on "Choosi n g Alternatives " presents thoughts about resistiñg the draft by Bruce Baechler, a nonregistrant now serving a 26month prison sentence, Dave Lumien, and the writer of this column, who refused to register during World War ll. The good people who publish the Agitator have printed several thousand extra copies for distribution. lf you would like to distribute some, write to the Catholic Agitator , Ammon Hennacy House of Hos' pitality, 605 North Cummings St., Los Angeles, California 90033. Martin Sostr'e, according to Marlene Nadle writing in the Village Voice, is as intransigent as ever, despite many years in prison, some of them in solitary confinement. Recently Sostre said in an interview, "Oppressors count on terror to make people submit. They {on't know what to do when it doesn't work. They have no defense against nonsubmission. lt lousps up the machine." That, of course, lies at the heart of active nonviolence as a method for deal. ing with oppression. lt is good to know that Sostre plans to continue his work for human rights for prisoners and others who are victimized by our social order. The Decem ber, 1975 issue of NEPA News includes an excellent article on the rights of parolees which calls attention to Morrissey v. Brewer , a federal court decision which grants dnyone facing parole revocation a right to two hearings, a preliminary and a final hearing, and also spells out the rights and when taxpayers are,increasingly t proceedings which' shou lã govern such heariñgs. The article is based on a forthcoming Publication of the American Friends Serviee.Committee. Those wishinþ more information should contact: David Collins, AFSC,48 lnman St., Cambridge, MA 02139. demanding an accounting for their money, the waste and negative results inherent in our prison system should be exposed whenever possible. ln a landmark ruling, Federal udge Frank M. Johnson stated that imprisonment in Alabama's overcrowded prisons constitutes cruel and unusual punishment as prohibited by the eighth amqndment to the Constitution. J udge J ohnson refused to accept the excuse of lack of funds as adequáte reasori for the telrible prison conditions. He issued forty-four guidel i nes which constitute minimum standards if Alabama is to adhere to the Constitution; and gave Covernor Ceorge C. Wallace and other state officials six months to put the guidelines into efféct. Accôrding tõ the New York Times, the judge noted that "rampant violence and [a] jungle J atmosphere" exi st throughout Alabama's penal system, and commented that any person qntering those prisons had "no chance of leaving the institution w¡th a more ¡iositive or constructive attitude than the'one he or she brought in." The answér of several Ohio legislators to overcrowding in the prison.s is to propose a constitu- tional amendment providing $250 million in bonds to build new prisons and youth detention facilities. Such a measure would only compound the problem. Col umn ist William Raspberry recently noted that nearly half the ,cost of crime was for supporting a criminal justice system and commented: "And what do we get for those outlays? Virtually nothing. Not crime reduction, not rehabilitation, not safety." At a time ! ' The United Prisoner's Rights Movement in Canada organized and carried out two very successful demonstrations during the end-of -the-year hol iday"season On Christmas day, 1975, despite a . 20 below temperature, one thousand demonstrators marched around Parthenais Prison in Montreal to draw attention to the "indignities, frustrations añd shocking treatment" taking place' inside the walls. Another similar sized group demonstrated in front of the women's section of Tãnguay Prison for the same reason and in the same fräezing temperature. The very fine leailet they distributed quotes offiçials : on the uselessness of pripons, raises questions about Canada's prisons which must be answered in 1976, and points out that tax money spent on prisons is wasted and personal safety lessened. French philosopher, psychiatrist and historian, Michel Foucault, expressed an interesting viewof the role of prisons in an interview first published in Le Monde,4nd partly reprinted_on the Op Eci . page of the New York Times. ' , Among other things, Foucault said: "Lawbreaking is not an accident, a more or less unavoidable imper- fection. Rather, it is a positive element of the functioning of society. lts role is part of a general strategy. Every legislative arrangement sets up privileged and profitable areas where the law can bé violated, others where it can be ignored, and others where infractions are sanctioned." -Larry Gara wtN 19 ',:\ The flashes of insight ín Cryer and Ford,s first album, along with the more sophisticated song, f-m their shows , are a promise of some real accomplished music by them and for women in the near future. As they begin to deal with asoects of women's. lives.other than our relationshipi with rnun, their song.s will herald the full joy of the irLe¿om thai rèplaces the anger of oppression. { - c -Wendijõlrrrirt, * @ Fiddleback Music Publishing Co., lnc. (BMt). THE FOOD CO.OP HANDBOOK The Co-op Handboók Collective / Houehton Company, Boston / 1975 / pbk $4.95 - { CRYER & FORD Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford "Oh l've been around: / RCA Records When a woman no longer needs to be defensive and feel angry, the fever of her personal struggle has broken. She can be free to express loneliness, to need love, and to be just a bit proud that she came through the pain and frustration without sacrificing the vulnerability that makes her human. And she can revel in thejoyof her new independence. Cretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford write for the women who have reached this plateau. The political awareness of Cryer and Ford has always been a cut above that of most comniercial composers and playwrights. An early Off-Broadway 4. production, "Now ls the Time for AllCood Men," dealt sensitively with the problems of a CO returning to a small town in the Midwest after serving time in prison. (The hero was undoubtedly modeled after Cryer's brother, Peter Kiger, who is well-known for his activism to both WIN readers and assorted law enforcement officers who contributed to his record of 30-odd arrests.) Another Off-Broadway success of Cryer and Ford was "The Last Sweet Days of lsaac," two one-act satires that poke fun at the search for the {'meaning of liÍe," "meaningful relationships" which can be spawned and consummated in a stalled elevator, and civil disobedients who understand neither the situation they were protesting nor the gravity of their own acts. That both these productions played to large and diverse audiences is evidence of Cryer and Ford's good feel for the public's tolerance level. Hopefully their f irst'album as a duo will not only find its audi: ence also, but will introduce some women to the idea that independence is the best trip tO take. The songs in this album deal with relationships ot one kind or another between a man and a woman. One, probably to a former lover, "Long Time Cone," contains the theme of the album: "l've learned to love another But loving's not the same I take it with a grain of salt l'm keeping my own r'ìame. . . "* The idea of maintaining distance in a relationship is developed further in "You Can Never Know My Mind": Cot the map of the country on my face Highways of broken promises : Crossroads whereihings were left behind Oh l've been aroundl've done and l've been done to And I don't trust that anyone Can ever know my mind. . . "* The treasure among these unusu al "love" songs is "Do Whatcha Cotta Do to Make Yourself Happy." It's a story of a woman and her younger lover. While its lyrics and production are not as rich as those of Dory Previn's similar "Lemon Haired Ladies," neither does it convey the sadness and desperation usually found in Previn's songs. Rather, it promotes the idea that it is the young man who is the'lucky half of the partnership, the one who must guard against his "hot stuff growing cold." lt oftên seems that eloquence comes easier to those writing of sorrow, but Cryer manages to avoid the Norman Vincent Peale quality that pervades many songs oÍ atticmæ tion by injecting a delicate humor into her tale: "How will I break it to my mother He's younger than my very youngest brother I guess l'll have to tell her when it's all said and done She didn't lose a daughter, she just got a grand- son!"* The other love songs are interesting melodically, but largely repetitions of the same theme. Cryer and Ford make a beautiful sound together, one which distinguishes even the most pedestrian of the songs; and all the melodies are new and lively. The album is orchestrated heavily: because I had previously heard them perform only to piano accompaniment, it took a whilê for me to hear the bass, percussion, drumg etc. as anything but a detraction, but after listening to the songs a dozen or so times, the lush background seems to enhance rather than diminish. My favorite cut on the album happens to be the only one that doesn't focus on a relationship. "Hang on.to the Cood Times" is a mother's advice to her daughter. The tune is one I find myself humming -as frequently as I hum. The simplicity of the lyrics bely their importance. O, to be sent off to face life with a sense of aff irmation! This kind of philosophy is where Christian parents in the Midwest and J ewish ones in the East show their real differences. Mifflin Food co-ops can be the crossroads of a whole series of social conditions and resolutio¡rs in a community: þigh prices circumvented by collöctive buying; hi erarch y rep aced.by col lective deci s ion ñrakl'n g; a.lienation b.V real change. ln many ways, co-operatives can bring into focus the visions of aiternátives to capitalism we've kept in our minds. tn the modern cofporate state, we'refortunate to have an expanding movement of people who are conscioüsly éoming together to work collectively. But sometimes co-ops are.at.once.sophisticated in systems and production, and diluted in politics...More movement feople nee